B V THE WA YSJDE 
for his breast. His note is sure to be a 
sign of spring as it may be heard on a 
bright March morning. It likes a little 
box in which to nest and it will often 
fight with wrens for one. It lays five to 
six e ar ° r s which are of a pale blue color. 
It hatches several broods each season. 
When anything attacks the nest the male 
and female will fight with great courage. 
It lives on insects, worms, etc. The blue¬ 
bird belongs to the family of perching 
birds or to the warbler family and it gets 
it name from its color. 
Last spring when I was coming home 
from school I heard something drop on 
the ground. I turned to see what it was. 
It was a blue-bird which had been fight¬ 
ing and got hurt. I took it home and 
the first thing I did was to give it some 
water. We had a bird-house with no 
other birds in it, so I put it into that. It 
soon got better and one morning when I 
went out to see it it wasn’t there. At 
noon when I came home it had returned 
but not alone. It had brought another 
blue-bird; and they lived in that place 
a long time, so I felt repaid for my care. 
“I know the song that the bluebird is singing, 
Out in the apple-tree where he is swinging; 
Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary: 
Nothingcares he while his heart is so cheery. 
Hark! how the music leapsout from his throat 
Hark! was there evei so merry a note? 
Listen awhile, and you’ll hear what lie’s say¬ 
ing, 
Up in the apple-tree, swinging and swaying. 
“Dear little blossoms, down under the snow, 
You must be weary of winter, I know; 
Hark, while I sing you a message of cheer— 
Summer is coming! and springtime is here!” 
Merrill, Wis. Grace Martin. 
A Jackdaw’s Loot. 
j X- J 
The few hundred persons in this vil¬ 
lage, near the foot of the WaukaW’ Moun¬ 
tains. are not mourning the death of Tad, 
the ancient jackdaw belonging to farmer 
Walter Edwards, says a Jaysville. (N. J.) 
correspondent of the Times. Because of 
the old freebooter's death nearly every¬ 
body in the village has recovered some 
precious lost article. 
Tad was a favorite in Jaysville. No 
one ever caught him in any deed of a 
questionable nature. He might well 
have pointed with pride to his record, 
and no one before he died, would have 
known differently. 
His home was in the cupola of the 
Edwards stable. It was hard going for 
even a boy to get into that, and no one 
had ever looked at the life Tad led from 
the inner side of his threshhold. He 
went about in the best society and was 
always trusted. 
He began to ail the day after Thanks¬ 
giving, and after several days^ retired to 
cupola and died. Tommy Edwards 
went into the cupola and found the body. 
On a ledge about four inches wide, which 
went all the way around the cupola, 
Tommy found a fine lot of jewelry, letters 
(some love) bric-a-brac, and such boys’ 
delights as jackknives. 
Mr. Edwards recognized some of the 
articles as belonging to neighbors, and 
decided to post a list of the loot on the 
door of the Dutch Reformed Church that 
the owners might call and claim their 
own. The list included, among many 
other things: 
Spectacles, 17 pairs; 72 rings, 13 
strings of beads, 11 pairs of earrings, 3 
gold bracelets, 1 small butter knife, 5 
marriage certificates,deed for a farm. 137 
love letters, 1 copy of “Ships that Pass 
in the Night,” and one pamphlet of in¬ 
structions for insurance solicitors. 
Tommy Edwards cut open Tad to find 
out if anything was yet hidden and dis¬ 
covered the cause of death. In the jack¬ 
daw’s throat was lodged a ring. It be¬ 
longed to one of the young women of the 
village, and Tad had stolen it while on a 
Thanksgiving call. 
